Here’s a celebration of all the ways we are uniquely freelance writers… set apart from our cubicle counterparts, yet aware that we are perhaps still not so different. Or are we? Enjoy! You Know You’re a Freelance Writer When… You’re starting to grumble about your 5-step commute from the bed to your computer. The snooze […]

You start playing pranks on your unsuspecting canine because you miss the office shenanigans.

You finally get paid for knowing more than the person who hired you.

Strangling yourself with the laptop cord is a popular and approved reaction to client emails and phone calls.

Friends pimp you out for favors: “Oh yeah, I have a friend that can do that for you. I’m sure he’ll do it for super cheap. In fact, we’re good friends, I bet he’ll do it for free!”

You can justify anything to one client by simply referencing a vague “other client.” {Yes of course I’d love to have a 5am meeting for your East Coast team! Unfortunately, I’ve already booked that slot with my Australian client.}

Social sites your old boss banned aren’t even fun to visit now because they’re actually on your Client Acquisition To Do list.

You talk excitedly about the latest WordPress plugin or productivity tool you just downloaded… and the barista was only asking for your coffee order. {“It’s just so lonely working from home, you see. Nice to have someone to talk to is all…”}

You’re actually nodding and laughing right now, filled with that warm and fuzzy feeling that “yes, I still fit in somewhere.”

Much love to my fellow freelancers! We may be spread out across the global office but our common world still unites us.

I’d love to hear any other items you’d add to this list. If I get enough responses, I’ll do an updated *2.0* post with the additional items. Just ask to be “Anonymous” if you don’t want me to attribute the item to you!

You did not come when I called you. And I know… I know that in the same breath I beckoned you with, I told you not to step forward. It would appear that my overtly sure steps said I didn’t need you. My confidence bellowed, “I’ve got this.” My refusal to step toward you even […]

My refusal to step toward you even as I asked for your step toward me… well that probably hinted at a leverage I would not release… a power I could not let be yours.

To the Man Who Never Arrived…

I get it. I understand now.

How could you step toward me in the radiance of your power and strength if I refused to make room for all that you are?

How could you truly want a woman whose every hint was that she didn’t need you?

I understand now. And I want you to know:

That my sure steps were actually wary, fearful ones – because I did not trust where I was going. My confidence was a mask I wore to maintain power – because the last time a man had more power than me, I didn’t make it home.

Because I’m too scared. Too wounded. Too long alone now that the slightest of your turning away – once I make that fateful step forward – might crush me.

I am still too newly put together to risk that. And so I have fought to not let you know that I am weak. I have fought to seem strong. But I give up now. And I am asking you to embrace me. Surround me. Take me.

Because I cannot yet walk where I desperately need to go. But I can be swept up and carried. I am not asking to be saved. Just asking for a partner who can lead the dance… who will approach a shy wallflower who just got really good at looking aloof.

I will not need to be carried indefinitely. When we touch back down I will walk on my own two feet. And walk I will, right by your side, down whichever path we discover.

To the Man I Now Welcome…

Thank you. I know you’re out there. I know you will find me. And I will welcome you with open arms.

Most people talk about keys like steps. Use this tactic and unlock that reward. Well in this case, we’re talking about a pretty literal key here. As in you’re going to have to penetrate your own psyche with it, twist the knife *I mean key!* and then (and only then) unlock your greatest reservoir of […]

Most people talk about keys like steps. Use this tactic and unlock that reward. Well in this case, we’re talking about a pretty literal key here.

As in you’re going to have to penetrate your own psyche with it, twist the knife *I mean key!* and then (and only then) unlock your greatest reservoir of writing awesomeness. Luckily it comes with other rewards too…

In a writer’s life, what I’m about to share with you will:

Deepen the emotional quality of your writing

Improve your ability to get into your reader or consumer’s head

Make you and your writing more likable and accessible to others

Transform your personal relationships (and hey, that’s a bonus!)

And maybe even help you heal some wounds…

In fact, just to give you an idea of the possibilities here, consider this:

Today’s revelation made a waitress cry and feel hope for the first time in a life riddled with violence and poverty. In a group of single mothers whose boyfriends are in and out of prison – even for one who’d been to prison herself – while struggling against a life without education or support from anyone who understands… these women are finding hope and joy in the place they least expected it.

So too, writers, thought leaders, big brands and even some government officials are finding that the answer to a life of success, joy and legacy requires a character trait most people spend their whole life running away from…

The answer many are finding for success, joy and connection is in vulnerability.

Why Vulnerability Transforms Our Art & Our Lives

Because it sets us free. It breaks us down and carves us wide open. And while initial vulnerability can hurt, it also simultaneously heals. If you let it.

But that’s a hard pill to swallow isn’t it? Is a potent key to great writing worth personal suffering? Well I say no it isn’t. But it IS worth personal healing.

And hey, I get it. At first, vulnerability felt like a nasty word to me. It was something to avoid because it triggered feelings of shame, fear, and disconnection. Not to mention all the emotions I was unconsciously stacking on top of vulnerability… so it also felt like anger, betrayal, anxiety and judgment.

It meant being weak, being taken advantage of, and not being strong enough.

Yet researcher Brené Brown, PhD. has made studying courage and vulnerability her life’s work – first to disprove the value of vulnerability… and then to embrace and encourage it.

Why? Because she found that vulnerability was the singular thing that differentiated happy people from unhappy people, and that embracing it can lead to authentic happiness – because embracing it allows us to feel truly worthy.

In one of her TEDTalks, she says:

The only difference between people who felt worthy, and those who didn’t, was that those who felt worthy were able to be vulnerable. They believed that what made them vulnerable also made them beautiful. They knew it was necessary and were willing to risk loving, being authentic, and giving of themselves… when there were no guarantees.

In theory it all sounds nice, but if vulnerability is so great, why is it so hard? Why should we bother?

Why We Struggle With Vulnerability

Most of us involuntarily experience vulnerability when life breaks us open, or when another attacks or harms us. So feeling vulnerable doesn’t always feel good. We might then begin to associate it with feeling ashamed, weak and not good enough, and eventually we begin to fear and avoid it as a way to stay safe and in control.

The problem isn’t with vulnerability though. It’s with being forced into a state we haven’t chosen. Some of us have never experienced this state by choice, and so we’ve never known vulnerability without all the nasty stuff thrown in on top of it.

This wouldn’t be so bad except that when we avoid vulnerability, we cut ourselves off from life and all basic emotion – the good stuff and the bad. This is because the only way to stop feeling vulnerable is to numb it. Unfortunately, we can’t selectively numb emotion. When you do away with any of the nasties like shame or anger, you have to chuck out the whole bunch.

So when we numb vulnerability, we also numb joy. We numb gratitude. We numb happiness and love.

And so imagine a writer who has numbed her own emotions — might she find it difficult to tap into and evoke the emotions of her audience?

This is why stepping into vulnerability is the great leap toward a writer’s success. We’re flipping our switch back on!

A Writer’s Guide to Vulnerability…

Yes it’s true, opening up to vulnerability can at first open us back up to the tough stuff, the reasons we shut down in the first place. But to let happiness and joy back into life, we have to allow the rest of it too.

To master the ability to evoke emotion in others, we must know and traverse the emotions within ourselves.

So here’s an exercise designed for writers that will help you not only step into vulnerability, but also connect more deeply with that vulnerability inherent in your audience.

This will help you develop more compassion in your writing as well as help you nail that emotional experience for your reader so that she becomes magnetized toward your writing. So that she feels the very emotion you’re cultivating in your copy, and so that even as you educate her to wonderful buying opportunities – you’re also transforming and healing her in that wonderful communion between writer and reader…

… because a master of her emotions can master the true power of words.

THE EXERCISE

You can do this exercise as…

A journal writing exercise

A recorded audio conversation with a friend

A monologue by yourself

Or as a guided meditation you do in your head

I find that when writing full-time 8+ hours a day, sometimes I don’t want to do any introspective self-awareness processes like this in writing. Other times, writing will be the best way I can process! So just go with your gut and do whatever feels right for you in this moment.

Pick any emotion to begin with – perhaps one you want to write to for a project, such as frustration, fear or anger. Or perhaps you want to tackle an emotion you’ve been struggling with lately such as grief, distrust or disappointment.-

Take 3 minutes to explore what that emotion feels like for you. When you hold that emotion in your awareness, how does your body feel? Where does it seem to sit in your body? Is it a chaotic buzzing in your head or like a lead weight in your stomach? What happens to your heart rate, your breathing, the tension or relaxation in your shoulders, back, legs or arms? What sensations are there… perhaps a sense of cold or heat, tingling or shaking? This is a powerful way to connect with the physiological nature of an emotion without getting caught in the story triggering that emotion (or tied up in that emotion that comes back up every time you feel it).-

Next, take 3 minutes and explore the aspects of this emotion that you do not want anyone else to know.Does it trigger thoughts that frighten you or a line of thinking others might think is crazy? Do you believe things about people who feel this emotion – like “they’re weak,” or “only an idiot would fall for something like this or would feel this way.” Pay attention to any self-talk that happens. Things like “Don’t be a baby!” or “Suck it up!”-

Write or say those statements out loud.-

Then ask yourself, “Who said this statement to me once?” Who said it first? Maybe they didn’t say it to you, but you heard it. Either way, we learn to connect certain thoughts to our emotions. They don’t come pre-installed that way! Where did you learn these statements from?-

Finally, how can you communicate all you’ve discovered about this emotion and your personal experience of it? With empowered vulnerability. Another way to look at this is… if you had a consumer, reader or individual who felt these same things you did, and you wanted to comfort her and connect to her – to let her know you understand her: what would you say?-

Imagine how healing it can be when you can now say that same thing to yourself.

Much love,

Jaime

Update

Our 60-day challenge is now over, so I have removed the explanation and details from this post. Thank you to the thousands of you who participated and I hope to do another one again! (just keeping this note here for context in case anyone new reads all these comments below saying “I’m in” for the challenge!)

Freelancing allows us so much freedom and control over our life, our finances and our professional work. Yet the downside of that freedom is the responsibility to create that income and professional work. And that means figuring out how to get new clients. So here are some tried and true tactics you can use anywhere, at […]

Freelancing allows us so much freedom and control over our life, our finances and our professional work. Yet the downside of that freedom is the responsibility to create that income and professional work.

And that means figuring out how to get new clients.

So here are some tried and true tactics you can use anywhere, at any point, to woo clients so they become your greatest fans.

Oh and these aren’t just nifty brain burps that bubbled up somewhere. They’re based entirely on neuroscience and our evolutionary biology, i.e. the way our brain naturally works when we’re not paying attention to it.

And while I’m not a proponent of persuasion tactics used heartlessly to trigger a purchase reaction someone might not otherwise make…

I do have a deep respect for the therapeutic nature of Neuro-Linguistic Programming when it’s used with integrity. So a few of these following tips also herald from my dear friend Wyatt Woodsmall‘s recent NLP training that I attended a few weeks ago. You could call him the grandfather of NLP. And if it were up to me, he’s the only person I’d ever want to learn any kind of persuasion from…

As always, please remember your part in the words you make and the things you do. These tactics are powerful and should be used with integrity and positive purpose.

And know that I mean this sincerely and with all the love in my heart: use any of this to hurt or manipulate someone and my hit man Bruno will be hunting ME to keep me from doing away with you.

So on to the good stuff… here’s how to get new clients, plus how to keep them happy.-

Woo Tactic #1: Jedi Posturing

During any in-person meeting you have with a client, subtly match or mirror their physiology and breathing.

If they’re sitting beside you, match how they’re sitting, leaning, the placement of their hands and legs, the pace of their breathing and the tilt of their head. Obviously if they’re fidgeting a lot or sitting in a way you can’t match (a woman isn’t going to sit with her legs set apart as a man might), just match what makes sense. When they move, wait about five seconds, fidget to readjust yourself naturally to match their new posture.

This should be subtle. Don’t over-do it or make a big deal out of it. Unless someone knows to look for it, most people won’t notice what you’re doing.

If you’re across from them, mirror them as their opposite. If they cross their left leg over their right, cross your right leg over your left and so on.This actually fires mirror neurons in the other person’s brain and creates a feeling of comfort and “huh… i really like you.”

As Wyatt so aptly put it during our training, “People tend to think they’re okay, and the more like them you are… they tend to think well you must be okay too.”

Now I learned that week that the simplest and most subtle exercises and tactics were the most bafflingly effective. Things can get so Twilight-Zone-weird that they had to give it a clinical name in NLP. They call it SWS: Scary Weird Shit. Here’s why…

During one exercise one individual closed her eyes, relaxed, and imagined her most pleasurable experience in recent history. Then her partner (the Programmer) moved into rapport with her by perfectly matching her posture, breathing, facial expression, head tilt… everything down to tension around the mouth or forehead, placement of fingers and feet.

A third person (the Meta Person) observed and helped the Programmer more accurately match everything possible.

I was shocked as I moved into rapport with my partner that I started getting images of leaves falling… nature… running water and the feel of incredible relaxation and sweetness. It felt like night time and a vast expanse of a forest with water.

Turned out my partner was imagining being in a hot springs out in the forest with her boyfriend when he proposed to her and finally everything felt right and solid in her life. WTF!

Same happened as we rotated… she exactly guessed that her partner was imagining something to do with children (which as Meta that round, NOT being in rapport with the subject, I could not gather or guess that AT ALL), joy and a cherished, beautiful experience. Her partner was imagining giving birth to her first son (after two girls) and being so happy that her husband now had a boy to pass on his lineage.

One of the reasons mirroring or matching another person can be so effective is that it brings you into resonance with them. It’s why we were able to somewhat psychically see the images in the other person’s head during that exercise. It’s also why we each naturally match another person’s posture or movements when we’re close to them.

You might notice that you and your best friend, romantic partner or business partner will often be sitting in nearly the same position, or as you moves a hand to your face that person nearly instantly and unconsciously moves their same hand to their face in the same position.

So imagine how that sense of resonance and connection might help you in negotiations to get new clients. Even if you aren’t together in person, have a Skype video chat or Google hangout… or match their choice of words, as well as tone and pace of voice on a phone call.

Again, we do this naturally when we connect with someone. The idea here is to assist that sense of connection between you and the person you wish to work with and serve.

Woo Tactic #2: Your Outcome is THEIR Outcome

Whether you’re a freelancer looking for your next writing job or you’re a business looking to pick up a new client, a key step you’ll always take is to discuss your client’s business or personal goals as part of your prospecting process, or as a natural part of working with them.

Here’s a great tactic for aligning yourself and your services with their chief outcome from the get-go so that working with you is a natural extension of the conversation…

Work the following questions into a conversation with someone at a networking party… or in a free consultation… or hey, on the airplane or at the sinks in the bathroom!

What is your primary objective or outcome right now? (If you’re specifically interested in their marketing, or their website, or you’re talking about their love life… add that specific qualifier at the end of the question.)-
Make sure they state it in the positive. If they say “to get out of debt,” have them relanguage it as “get into positive cash flow.”-

How will you know you’ve achieved this outcome? What does success look like for you? This is called an evidence procedure. You can’t measure or identify achievement of an outcome if you don’t know what that achievement could look like.-
If they need prompting, ask them what they would see when they’ve achieved this. A certain number in their bank account? A number of customers? What would they feel? Would they hear certain comments or praise? We’re looking for tangible, quantifiable or at least identifiable evidence.-

Do you feel that you have control and command over your outcome? For example, if their outcome is to have a better relationship with their mother… and their evidence procedure is that their mother is kinder to them, laughs more, doesn’t pick fights… they don’t have control over that.-
So then gently encourage them to come up with evidence they can control – like perhaps they see themselves laughing more with their mother… her quips don’t affect them and they hear themselves sharing their life stories and experiences with her.-

What do you imagine is the first step toward achieving this outcome? Here’s where you start aligning yourself and your services with their outcome. Hear what first step they imagine and agree with it, then if appropriate, share your own thoughts and experience on how they can further tackle their outcome. And this leads us to…

Woo Tactic #3: Yes, absolutely… and

Have you ever encountered someone who was impossible to say no to and have it stick? {That is, besides that somewhat sexy gal you might know here with black hair and green eyes ;)}

Well you can be impossible to say no to as well.

All it requires is replacing a single word in your vocabulary. Every time you want to say “but,” replace it with “AND.”

For example, let’s say you’re trying to land a gig and your client is voicing his objections. Agree with him (because his belief in his objections is always valid and true regardless whether the objection itself is false). And then when you state the opposite (your solution), instead of saying something like “Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but if you look at it like this you’ll see…” Say this:

“Yes, I understand what you’re saying and when we look at it like this we’ll see that…”

It’s a subtle difference AND it changes everything.

For the brain, when we hear the word “but,” it automatically creates an opposing relationship between what came before it and what comes after. We subconsciously notice that when someone agrees with us, then says “but,” what follows after must then be disagreeing with us. No bueno.

When we use the word “and” instead, the brain registers it as “in addition to” and there’s no opposition to be battled or taken down.

You might also notice the other little change I made in the above example: instead of saying “if you look at it this way you’ll see…” I changed “you” to “we.”

This is a bonus tactic I always use in my freelance consulting and I credit it with one of the reasons I have a 99.9% closing rate after landing over 150 writing and consulting jobs for me and other consultants. (Yes, only one person has ever said no to becoming a client for me or someone else I was negotiating on behalf of.)

Always communicate with your words that you’re on the same side of the table as your client. That you’re their partner, not their adversary. And that requires the language of “we” instead of “me vs. you.”

Woo Tactic #4: Chuck Logic to the Vultures… cuz it’s dead

Have you ever tried to use logic to win a client? Or an argument against your wife? Yeah doesn’t work does it! Here’s why:

People will only do something if it:

Looks right

Sounds right

Feels right

This is the secret to all communication. Period. Because you will never change the way a person thinks.

Thinking is optional. It’s conscious. You have to go for what is subconscious because 99.9% of what’s going on in the brain and biology of a person is subconscious. And the way to do that is to change the pictures or movie someone has in her head… the way she talks to herself and the tonality she uses.

Change the way she feels in her body.

Masterful copywriters have a feel for the power of this. We know that forging a deep relationship with the reader – so that she becomes a buyer – requires telling her a story. We paint a picture of that wonderful future she’ll have and we cultivate the lived experience of that future for her so she can viscerally feel it right now…

And we might also camp out in her worst nightmare with her, to hold her hand and show her that we want to (and can) carry her out of that mess.

So the next time someone baffles you, confuses or upsets you, instead of asking “Why are you doing that?” or anything similar… consider asking , “What does that look like?”

For example if your client is angry with you and says you never listen or you never do what you promise… don’t argue their point of view. They’re entitled to it. Instead ask, “So what does that look like for you? I’m not arguing, I really want to understand what you’re experiencing. What does it look like that I never listen?”

Once they answer, you can say, “Well what if it looked like this?” Now you’ve asserted your point of view and preference without trying to change the way they think. Instead you’ve presented a new picture. You can also substitute look for ‘feel’ or ‘sound.’

“Why?” can be a very dangerous question because it requires logic. Stick to WHAT.

This started out as a very different post. In my typical how-to fashion I was going to explain how easily we can transform our writing (and ourselves) by journeying from broken to breakthrough. But half-way through I trashed it. I just couldn’t do it. Because I refuse to sit here and tow the self-help party […]

In my typical how-to fashion I was going to explain how easily we can transform our writing (and ourselves) by journeying from broken to breakthrough. But half-way through I trashed it.

I just couldn’t do it. Because I refuse to sit here and tow the self-help party line, saying that healing our traumas and our fractured pieces is easy. Because it just isn’t.

At least it hasn’t been for me.

The breaking point is different for everyone but we’ve all been there. And it’s worth talking about here because we copywriters and companies must speak not just to the hopes and dreams of our audience — but to the hidden, hurting or shattered parts of them too.

There’s also the unspoken rule that to be broken we must be devastated, unable to function and in need of serious assistance. But most people are like functioning alcoholics: on the surface everything looks fine. Yet underneath they are steadily falling apart.

So today I’m going to rant about the power of breaking: what it means for you in your life, and what it means for a writer who must speak delicately to this reality for her audience.

Because I’ll tell you right now: No one gets out of life without breaking. Not you and not any single consumer you speak or write to.

We’re not supposed to.

Breaking is another way of breaking open.

It is the path by which we break through.

And yes I know that facing your own abyss is not a tantalizing idea. I fought looking at mine for three years and I paid dearly for it physically and emotionally. I even almost robbed myself of the ability to have children.

We would rather believe we can have it all without ever again feeling the pains we’ve suffered, or acknowledging the bits and pieces we let die along the way. And hey I totally get it. As a marketer and writer I have had to live every day by the rule that “they won’t hear it, use it, benefit from it if you make it sound painful, hard or difficult.”

But you know what? I’m FED UP with that line of thinking. And beginning today, I’m calling bull shit.

I suffered more than three years under the false belief that I had to be okay because I was reading all the books, going through all the motions, and by golly I must be successful and happy! No one in my outside life would have ever guessed anything was wrong. And at the time, I didn’t think anything was wrong either.

But then I spoke at a major conference before more than 1000 people as the first woman ever to keynote there… and guess what? I was plunged reeling into bouts of unexplainable and unending sobs. Everyone wanted a piece of me for good or for ill and I couldn’t deal. All my wounds were raw and festering and when anyone got too close, they bled.

I was even bawling five minutes before I had to run down for mic-up, and to get on stage.

So what the hell do you do when your Shit with a capital S blindsides you? That’s what I wanted to know.

How do you begin to heal when you’re still telling yourself you have no right to grieve or to be angry? What do you tell the whispers in the night when they ask you: “Why am I not over this yet?” “How can this still be coming up for me?” “Why am I still shut down?” “What’s wrong with me?”

I don’t want to pretend anymore that living our purpose and mission is easy.

Delicious… epic… life-defining and glorious… YES. But easy? Not always.

That doesn’t mean that along the way you won’t find a magical effortlessness, because you will. Yet even so, effortless flow and joy do NOT mean you’ll never hit the rapids. They don’t mean we never cry. Even in bliss I am still facing, healing and nurturing my truest self in great moments of raw reality.

My savior in all this – my greatest freedom – has been surrender.

For me to live my message… to pursue my passion and teach the true power of words… I have had to surrender to the deep place words come from: my humanity. And that means surrendering to and accepting all of it — my darkness, my light, my power, strength and fear.

I have surrendered to working through the pain, turning a kinder eye and gentler hand to myself and others…

I have surrendered the past, and to healing the myriad wounds that come with living life and making mistakes.

I said once in a recent post that it is by the very things that break us that we find the glue to put ourselves back together again. I stand by that. And I want to say to you:

Don’t be afraid to admit the ways you may be broken. Don’t fear the parts of you that may have starved or departed. And be open to the ways you can surrender… to surrender even to the very things you shun or run from. You never lose what is truly yours. You cannot destroy your essence. Nothing can break you without your permission… and when it does… you for the first time flower into what is possible and what is more you.

It’s okay if you don’t know where to start. It’s funny how by just choosing to begin, somewhere a door opens to you and you’ll glimpse the way.

But enough of the broken part…

How the Hell Do We Get to the Break-Through Part?

Lucky (or unlucky) for us, our breakthroughs come in all shapes and sizes. The 2X4 I needed to wake me up may not be the brick-to-the-head you need to snap awake.

Yet in all cases, the various resources, systems and processes for breaking through tend to fit an overall pattern I can only describe as Lifestyle Design (thank you Tim Ferriss) bedding with some hard-core Come To Jesus chats: between the YOU you know… and the you you didn’t want to know.

In a nutshell, we move from broken to breakthrough like this:

Acknowledge your heart’s deepest desire for you and your life… and what has prevented you from living it to this point. Whether you believe it is possible for you or not, there is a deep welling within the softer side of your heart that pipes up every now and then when you let your guard down and you become moved. Follow that.-
We all have our stories for why we are the way we are and most of us know they are not true and should be gotten over or ignored. But you can’t “get over it” without first working THROUGH it. Because even though your story may not be fact, it’s still real - to you. So even though each of us has the power to re-author our own story, we must know what the story is and accept its role in our life to date.-
Books that have helped me immensely at this juncture were Women Who Run With the Wolves and Broken Open.-

Find the goal you can work toward (starting now) that revs your engine. What do you stand for? What would be your legacy? Have a bucket list. Take a pilgrimage. Do the one thing you fear you cannot do. Make meaning.-
For me, my journey began when I realized that more than anything in the world I wanted to heal, liberate and celebrate women – not because any woman needs to be saved… but because this is how I’m saving me. It’s given me what I can live for, fight for, and celebrate. I feel more alive and delicious when I’m exploring and expressing everything that it means to be a woman.-
Right not it’s a journey I’m taking privately – however I know when I’m ready it will be something I share with the world and it will add texture to the things I teach and the ways I serve.-
Books that helped me immensely at this juncture were Osho’s Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously and Eve Ensler’s I Am an Emotional Creature.

Use your mission (a la step #2) to couch and ignite your healing process. I say this because none of us wants to jump head long into the abyss for the hell of it. Swimming in deep water with sharks and other nasties isn’t appetizing to any of us. But when traversing those waters is the one thing standing between you and your baby – honey you’re diving right in!-
That’s ultimately what got me to the real healing. Once I stood for something, wanted it with every fiber of my being, I couldn’t be a victim anymore energetically. It was impossible because I was fighting for something and working for the benefit of others. When I bumped up against tough stuff I hadn’t faced or healed yet I no longer turned a blind eye or fell beneath its crushing weight. I looked that sucker in the eye and I dealt with it. And in dealing with the first few, I found my backbone again and woe to any blocks that come my way now. -This also keeps us from getting lost in the healing process. It’s ongoing, spirals through layers upon layers, and it’s all growth. It’s LIFE. But in its more intense manifestations we can feel a bit (or very) overwhelmed and if we can’t draw our compass or spot the light beyond the waves and rocks we can lose our way.-
Know that in healing yourself others find permission to heal too. As they watch you live your mission others find the way to theirs. Sometimes it is in taking care of ourselves that we most empower others.

You have the right and the permission to not only live your mission but to earn wealth and abundance from it too. Don’t kid yourself that because you had it hard, made mistakes or you’re still going through it that you can’t help others and teach what you know. I think that precisely because you’ve been there, are there, and you’ve got both eyes open… you’re the perfect person to help others through the same journey.-
This is where Lifestyle Design comes in. Just because you’re journeying from a place where you may have felt broken, not enough, numb or otherwise shitty… doesn’t mean you can’t make money and have fun with this whole process.-
The world has enough gurus teaching how to survive things they themselves have never been through. Not to discount their value, but wouldn’t you bring your own kind of value simply because you’re living an experience you can share and teach?-
So I say get excited about your mission! Get in touch with what makes you tick and what makes you YOU and smear your personality all over everything you do and everything you write. If you’re a freelance writer, communicate to your clients in your own voice, and help them find their own.-

And then get particular. Get intentional. You are the only reason your life is or isn’t the way you want it. And you can design it exactly as you prefer by following the system of your choice. The good ones only ever don’t work because at some point we stop working them.-

Then…

Take just one step. Anything. Move ahead. Move toward. And know that the journey you’re taking doesn’t have to be any particular way. You can’t mess this up.

This has and will continue to be a delicious journey. Thank you for sharing it with me in this moment.

As you may well know sales skills often have more to do with what you know and don’t say then what you do say. Same goes for writing and marketing skills too. So here’s a list of books for honing your ninja marketing skills, particularly to help you gain a deeper understanding into why people […]

As you may well know sales skills often have more to do with what you know and don’t say then what you do say. Same goes for writing and marketing skills too.

So here’s a list of books for honing your ninja marketing skills, particularly to help you gain a deeper understanding into why people buy, what motivates them, and what’s often hiding under the surface of the buyer’s psyche:

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. Why the heck do people buy… or not buy. Or get addicted or brand-sensitive? Ask someone why they do any of these things and you rarely get the truth. You get what they think is the truth (or what you want to hear). Lindstrom here went ninja on his focus groups and started interviewing their BRAINS. He used neuroscience to study how the brain reacted to different branding messages.-
Though it’s heady and a bit academic, this book rocked my socks off. It dives deep into the raw and real reasons we buy, and what we respond to at a biological level using scientific studies to map the brain’s behavior and essentially interview the brain about why we do and want certain things, even when we believe we don’t. Honing your natural marketing skills was never so easy.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink. Whether you’re trying to get your kids to pick up after themselves, your virtual assistant to possess intense passion and desire for your success, or you want to inspire your clients to hire you and stick with you… this book reveals the pitfalls of motivation a la carrot and stick and opens our eyes to the magic of intrinsic motivation. And we all know motivation is one of the most important marketing skills we can develop.-
I got some serious ideas for how to ignite the natural motivation already existing in my clients and their audience, helping solve the dreadful dilemma of pricey employee bonuses that yield decreased performance and profits. Any business with employees would erect a shrine in your honor were you to enlighten them to the solutions this book provides for many of their most persistent and common problems.-

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. If you’ve had even a morsel of that tantalizing success called “working for yourself,” then you know what I mean when I say that every friend (including those I didn’t know I had) approaches me at some point to ask how they can learn “how to do what you do.”-
What I’ve learned through a dozen or so well-meaning but pitifully wasteful attempts to mentor these friends is that the ultimate test for whether they’re serious and whether they can embrace my lifestyle and work ethic is this: that they read The 4-Hour Workweek. I’ve seen it blow the caps off people’s minds and I’ve seen it piss people off who are convinced that traveling the world and 90-day vacations aren’t possible. Sorry folks, but the only limits you face in life are your own. And if you haven’t read this book, I dare say you’re crazy trying to live the freelancing lifestyle without it.-
Oh and he’s got some savvy marketing tricks and tips throughout the book too!-

The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do by Clotaire Rapaille. I have mixed feelings about this book but I think it has several fantastic morsels that help me overlook Rapaille’s clearly opinionated beliefs that are stated as verifiable and irrefutable fact (something I think is highly dangerous particularly when writing something so deep for the average joe or jane).-
I recommend you read the book with your rebellious nature intact. Don’t take what is written as gospel, but rather take it all in and decide for yourself. For myself, I found the particular culture codes extremely useful for understanding how a product or concept resonates with the market, and the differences he notes between different cultures were also useful. However he often follows these well researched culture codes up with statements extrapolating their meaning beyond the science.-
While he is more than welcome to do this, I would have appreciated him acknowledging that his extrapolations were merely his opinion, rather than based on his research. For example, where I completely buy into the idea that the French code for cheese is “Alive” he then extrapolates that the American code for cheese is “Death” because we pasteurize and wrap our cheese and store it in a morgue-like refrigerator. Oh yeah, and he’s French. So just beware his own culture codes that affect his perspective. Otherwise it’s a solidly beneficial read.

Enjoy slinking through those shadows now you sly ninja you… just remember I’m a ninja too.

I’ve never written a blog post about a vendor I’ve hired or worked with. Usually because I’d have to say something not so nice and that would just be sucky of me. But these guys rock! So in case you’re ever in need of snazzy design, quick turnaround, and all around cool peeps to work […]

I’ve never written a blog post about a vendor I’ve hired or worked with. Usually because I’d have to say something not so nice and that would just be sucky of me. But these guys rock!

So in case you’re ever in need of snazzy design, quick turnaround, and all around cool peeps to work with… these are your guys:

Men With Pens

MenWithPens.ca is a design team that one of my so-awesome clients Chris Cade recommended to me. I gave them a whirl this past week for another client’s project and HOLY COW! I love love LOVE these guys! My client had an emergency and needed a full fledged page design with programming to boot, plus some pretty hefty wizard coding on some dynamic tabs. And they needed it designed, coded, tested and live in five days.

I don’t know how many designers you’ve worked with but I’m lucky if I get a logo designed that fast. Websites typically take a month or longer. Not only did James Chartrand and the whole Men With Pens team get us everything before our deadline, they were instantaneous in response pretty much all the time and very easy and enjoyable to work with. Their kick ass design skills at that point are a major perk.

They’re not cheap and they shouldn’t be. These guys seriously over deliver. But if you need a web design that runneth over with personality and professionalism and a team you can actually enjoy working with and depend on… look no further.

I get absolutely nothing for recommending them. They just kick ass and credit is given where credit is due!

Social media is an excellent way to market yourself as a freelancer. It can also be, in my opinion, entirely overrated and often misused. Every day I see professionals tweeting and updating Facebook with spammy posts and self-important chatter that makes my skin crawl. I also see inspiring social champions who inform, empower and serve […]

Social media is an excellent way to market yourself as a freelancer. It can also be, in my opinion, entirely overrated and often misused.

Every day I see professionals tweeting and updating Facebook with spammy posts and self-important chatter that makes my skin crawl. I also see inspiring social champions who inform, empower and serve their audience.

Here’s a quick rundown of social marketing mistakes you want to avoid at all costs when using social media channels for finding work (whether in your marketing/branding or in your personal life), along with a few pointers to kick start your social marketing strategy.

Social Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t RT (re-tweet) or copy and paste testimonials or compliments you receive. I see this less often now, but some people think that lightly veiling these with “Oh how nice! Thank you so-and-so for your kind words. RT: [COMPLIMENT]” is a good idea. I know it sounds like it could work, but such tweets don’t sit well and can lead to complaints and an ‘unfollow.’

Don’t blast your Facebook friends list with a fire hose. Be selective about the events and fan pages you invite your Facebook friends to join. Most people nowadays will un-friend anyone who sends too many invites and messages to people they don’t know that well.

Try not to quote yourself unless it’s a seriously epic quote. Technically quotes are phrases in books, speeches or letters that someone else thought was important enough to mention. They are not “quoted” by their author. Yet I often see budding authors and thought leaders quoting themselves online, complete with attribution. This often comes off trite and has the opposite effect they were shooting for.

Unless you’re a social marketing ninja, don’t blindly implement social outreach software, tactics or systems that automate friend requests, posts or other rapid-growth techniques. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use these at all… just make sure you know what you’re doing and you always tie any tactic you want to employ with your strategy. Because what we do not want to see happen is that you dive into a rapid growth strategy that feels spammy to your audience, or that pings them too often with your messages and marketing. This will destroy your reputation.

Don’t assume anyone cares. Ouch this one hurts… but with all good marketing you always have to ask yourself, “What’s in it for them?” Make sure everything you post in your social outreach has benefit for your target prospect. That doesn’t mean you can’t post about your personal life… that’s actually one of the best ways to gain traction with potential clients because they get a feel for who you are and find points of common interest and resonance. However if an update or blog post doesn’t reinforce your personality, brand, or in some way empowers, equips or informs your target prospect… consider letting that one go unsaid.

Blasting clients or others online. This is a massive one. I know a lot of freelancers who blast clients who don’t pay them, or colleagues who cross the line. The most juvenile form of this is blasting the competition but I doubt our venerable readers here would stoop to that. If you do… DON’T! Blasting anyone, for any reason, never looks good. Be the bigger person here and just find another outlet for your frustration. Anything you post online, whether it’s a tweet, an update, or something you quickly delete… it all gets cached and it’s there forever. Anyone with a mind to find it will.

Try not to talk without first listening. Follow the people your target prospect is following. Pay attention to the thought leaders in your industry and engage in the conversation. Most importantly, listen to your prospects. What do they talk about and what fills their thoughts most of the day? Social media gives us access to a level of data mining we could only dream about before. You can get inside your audience’s head! Use it! What kinds of things do they re-tweet and “Like” or “Share?” What gets them to take action? This is priceless information for the discerning freelancer.

What To Do Instead

Weigh in on current events and industry conversations. Freelancers who build 100% referral-based businesses often get there by positioning themselves as thought leaders. To do this, subscribe to Google Alerts for the phrases tied to your industry or services. Also search Technorati for top blogs in your industry to keep tabs on what other authorities in the market are discussing. Get involved, mention useful blog posts in your updates and on your blog, and hop into the conversation with your own opinion.

Mention statistics and link to resources. Be the go-to guy or gal for bite-sized morsels your prospect can use to maintain a leading edge. For example if you’re a graphics designer, get into the habit of tweeting (and Facebook updating) links to free icon sets or templates your audience would enjoy. Mention statistics for how specific graphics tweaks improve site conversions and achieve other results your prospects want.

Think of your social marketing like you think of ad headlines. With such limited space what you say matters and you have to pique interest quickly and with few words. Most importantly, your chief goal is to inspire action or to build rapport. So create curiosity. Research how to write great headlines and incorporate that into your social marketing. And as always – don’t blatantly pitch yourself.

Focus on serving your audience. I find that when I align all my marketing activities with my mission to serve and I maintain integrity with my audience’s highest good I rarely steer wrong. Aim to be of benefit, to enhance and enliven your audience and they will love you for it. Get revved up about what you’re doing and the things you talk about online and others will get revved up about it too. You’ve got to be so in love with yourself and what you’re doing that others can’t help but do the same.

So go get ‘em tiger… You’re a social rockstar just waiting to smash that first guitar onstage!

Oh and do you have your own social marketing mistakes you see others make or that you’ve discovered? Share them below in the comments!

Here’s a quick and dirty guide to freelance lifestyle design, showing you how I’ve created a life where I can work and travel anywhere, and how I’ve been doing it with no home base. That’s right – non-stop travel as a lifestyle! I’m writing this blog post because after more than 10 solid months on […]

Here’s a quick and dirty guide to freelance lifestyle design, showing you how I’ve created a life where I can work and travel anywhere, and how I’ve been doing it with no home base.

That’s right – non-stop travel as a lifestyle!

I’m writing this blog post because after more than 10 solid months on the road I’ve recited the following diatribe more often than Chicken Little thought the sky was falling.

I’m not at all complaining here – I get a real kick out of the look on a person’s face as they realize that 1) I’m not crazy, 2) Nope, not lying either, and 3) I really DO travel for a living. What people love best is the fact that I’m doing it because I want to… but I can work along the way when I choose to.

Pretty much sounds like freedom doesn’t it? In many ways that’s precisely what lifestyle design is. And being a freelance writer is one of the easiest ways to achieve it.

The Ultra-Condensed Guide to Lifestyle Design & Travel

Now don’t expect me to unearth the Holy Grail here because I can’t. There’s a lot that goes into crafting this lifestyle and traveling perpetually pretty much plants you squarely in the unknown on a daily basis.

However, in my case, that’s exactly why I do it! And whether you want to just get up and go one day for however long you decide… or you just want the freedom to take little trips whenever you choose… don’t wait until you have it all figured out. Just get up and go and trust that the universe will fill in the gaps with exactly what you need along the way. Ain’t that a trip!

Books to Read

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4 Hour Workweekis an excellent and real-world actionable primer on how to travel and work anywhere (even if you’re a staff writer with a 9 to 5 job!)

Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously gets to the soul of the matter: that so much freedom and newness can certifiably scare the crap out of you. It also explains how to deal. HIGHLY recommended… this book was my bible while traveling.

Eat, Pray, Love kept me sane and entertained during the more soul-searching episodes of my journeying. My link here points to the book version, however I highly recommend the Audio Book version. Though it’s a bit more pricey, for me it was magical listening to Elizabeth Gilbert whisper her own story in my ear while driving or flying to my next destination. Enjoy!

Mobile Lifestyle Gear for the Road

Creating a mobile lifestyle isn’t just for perpetual travel. Perhaps you want to attend industry events, network, and pick up clients out of town. Or heck maybe you want to actually take a vacation once in a while!

In all cases, you need to mobilize your lifestyle.

Here are the tools and accessories I never leave home without. And the funny thing… it’s the tiny little things that have absolutely saved my ass on the road.

Domestic or International Wireless Laptop Air Card: Don’t count on the internet your hotel promises or that the cafes in the area will have free wireless. I can’t count the number of times I get caught without internet – free or otherwise. Having a wireless air card is essential to maintain even a sporadic traveling/vacation lifestyle where you’re bringing work with you.-
Just check with your cell phone provider or any other cellular provider for options on laptop air cards. You pay a monthly fee for the service, as well as a one-time fee to purchase the air card, and you’ll have internet access anywhere you get cell phone reception.-
>> Here’s a list of available aircards and service providers

3-plug outlet extender: This allows you to turn those rare and hard-to-come by outlets in restaurants and cafe’s into a bevy of outlets for you and your fellow patrons. This little guy has saved me more times than I can count when I have to charge all my electronics on a stop between destinations, or when no outlets are available and I can politely ask someone if we can use the extender for our mutual charging needs. Key factors are: it has 3-prong outlets so heavy duty electronics like laptops can be plugged in… plus this particular one I link to also comes with bonus USB ports for charging your smaller bits!

3-prong adapter for 2-prong outlets: Another little guy you never think of that can literally save your professional life! Imagine my surprise and horror when I arrived in Bali to discover that their promised USA adapters only allowed 2-prong electronics. I couldn’t plug my laptop in! The only thing that saved me was using this priceless gem to allow my 3-prong charger to work with the 2-prong adapter.

All-In-One International Plug Adapter: Speaking of Bali, another lifesaver when your travels take you abroad is a one-size-fits-all universal adapter. This nifty contraption will convert any outlet to any plug. It has all these switches so any country’s device can fit into any other country’s outlet!

Kindle or similar ebook reader: Whether it’s your swanky new iPad, the Kindle, or another ebook reader of choice, if you’re planning extended travel – domestic or international – if you’re an avid reader like me or you must conduct research for your freelance work, this will save you added weight charges on your luggage and keep your purse or man-bag nice and light. I personally resisted getting a kindle for the longest time because many of the academic books and other obscure psychology, ancient language, and spiritual texts were not available on the kindle.-
However after traveling with roughly 50 books in my trunk and back seat (along with everything else I owned that was stuffed in my car) I realized that trading in for digital would be a necessity.-
Especially when I traded my car in for a suitcase to go abroad. Surprisingly I have fallen in love with the kindle, not just for saving space, but I read so much faster and it’s easier to find my notes and bookmarks for each book. And lucky for Amazon, I also buy way more books. -

Portable iPod/iPhone Dock: Music is a must-have for me and though many hotels are starting to carry iPod docks in their rooms, I was shocked at how many 4-stars and resorts were still behind the times. Even if they had a dock, the sound was almost always atrocious. Not to mention all the hostels or motels you may stay in along the way! Of course many opt to use their laptop speakers and throw on Pandora or Spotify, but I like quality music enough that it was worth the extra space to lug my iPod dock around. I HEART my iPod Dock.

Remote Desktop Access: If you have a work or home computer with your main files, but you’re taking your laptop on the go, it’s vital to either have everything on the cloud or to have a remote desktop application installed on both computers so you can remotely access and control one computer from the other. I personally use TeamViewer as they have a free personal account option. However there are many others you can look at as well. One thing to consider for longer trips is whether you can access a computer while it’s TURNED OFF. If not, you’ll want to move key files to the cloud or look into file synching options.

There are many other items I recommend traveling with but those essentials will get you started.

How to Go Mobile

Taking a voluntary working vacation can be daunting the first time you do it. Though I must say, planning ahead to work while you travel can be empowering and exciting – you can plan to travel longer knowing work will be handled, and you simply organize your time so you have ample adventure alongside your projects.

ONE. I recommend if you’re still getting used to the mobile lifestyle, that you start with just working outside the house. At least three days a week, work at a local cafe, at the beach, at a wine bar or restaurant. Plan your to-do list before you arrive or as soon as you get situated and review how your productivity there matches up with your productivity at home. You may be surprised to find you get MORE done!

Working at cafes gives me the bustle, human connection and peripheral activity I miss when I’m home alone. Not to mention bottomless tea and easy food choices! Just watch your budget.

This is also good for flexing those *focus* muscles before challenging yourself with too much newness. Because there’s a lot vying for your attention when you’re in a new place. The people, the sights, the urge to explore… you can quickly lose yourself in your travels, finding your projects left undone, unless you get used to balancing the two beforehand.

Lastly, you’ll notice what essentials YOU need to make working away from home a success. For example, test out any remote access application you want to use on a couple-hour cafe trip… not on that escapade to Africa when low-and-behold the application doesn’t work and you can’t access your files for a whole three weeks!

TWO. Take a small vacation or road trip to somewhere exciting but perhaps familiar. I did this when I gave up my home and began perpetual traveling. Though I was already taking 2-week vacations every 30 to 60 days, the idea of traveling full-time was still daunting. I eased into it by going first to Scottsdale to visit my best friend, and then on to Sedona and Flagstaff where I had been on two previous trips.

Try to make the vacation at least 5 days. I like 2 weeks. Go ahead and take the family too if you can. Use Ferriss’ 4 Hour Workweek book for tips on convincing your spouse’s boss to let him or her telecommute for a few days (the first step to securing 100% work-at-home status for the 9-to-5er!). Give yourself a basic outline for the trip – dedicate certain daily hours to working or dedicate entire days (my preference) so that the rest of the time is clearly marked for fun and adventure.

Do this at least once every 60 days until you feel comfortable.

THREE. Then stretch yourself into a 30-day working sabbatical! You can find wonderful home-exchanges or furnished sublets all over the world via Craigslist. Also refer to my post on staying in resorts for motel prices for tips on luxurious budget travel for the long-term. There’s also couchsurfing.com and airbnb.com for allowing individuals to put you up for the night or week.

Also don’t forget to consult with your tax adviser on how your travel expenses can be written off as part of your business expenses! The world is your oyster, babycakes! Go find your pearls.

Freelance writers have a unique opportunity and edge when considering how to get more clients. All you have to do is what you do best: writing. And do it in a slightly different way… The fact is we live in a world where the rules have utterly changed. Freelancers often think we have to go […]

Freelance writers have a unique opportunity and edge when considering how to get more clients. All you have to do is what you do best: writing. And do it in a slightly different way…

The fact is we live in a world where the rules have utterly changed. Freelancers often think we have to go to networking parties, local meetups, industry conferences and chamber of commerce meetings to pick up new clients. Add in the likelihood that many writers are introverts… and the stressful nature of constantly promoting yourself is quite apparent.

So how do you get more clients as a freelance writer without pitching yourself into social situations and in front of businesses on a regular basis?

It’s simple: You use your writing mojo to craft an epic free giveaway that does the work for you.

How to Get More Clients: The Basic Process

Create a whitepaper, report, quick guide or email course that delivers information or addresses a challenge your target audience is seeking to get or fix.

Then make it available on your website where they can grab it by providing their name and email address so you can immediately send it to them (via an automatic email you create beforehand).

This way you’re providing value, giving them a reason to trust and work with you, and also building an ongoing relationship.

Continue communication to your list of prospects via email, social media, your blog, and encourage them to contact you about your services.

Close the sale on prospects who directly contact you!

How to Craft Your Giveaway

First, consider what your target prospect would search for online and what she would get excited about receiving.

Decide what type of content your giveaway will have. Common types include:

Let’s say you choose to write a guide on how to hire and get the most out of a fantastic copywriter. You can share tips on how to communicate your style, personality and brand to a copywriter so they can emulate it, and anything else you want your clients to do when working with you. This helps you train them to be your perfect client!

You can also write a guide or two on common challenges or questions prospects have about choosing a copywriter or about crafting good written content in general (which they can use to educate themselves so they can better manage a writer and review their work properly).

Another creative giveaway writers can provide that no other writer currently provides (that I know of) is this: Develop a few document templates for common types of documents or pages your prospects often search for or request that would be of high value to them. For instance, if you target lawyers and your main service is website copy overhauls, you can create a fill-in-the-blanks template for a law firm’s About Us page or Services page that illustrates the key benefits-oriented and visitor-oriented language, plus calls-to-action that are so important for these types of web pages.

Here’s the key to this: you want to elegantly drive them toward contacting you for a consultation to discuss your services. Here’s what you do…

Have a check box for requesting a free consultation on your optin form where they provide their contact information. When they check the box, they’re raising their hand to be contacted. Have a field there for their phone number and best time to call.

Also include at the end of your giveaway some key questions they need to answer when considering their branding, website copy, ad copy, or whatever type of service you provide. Explain that many businesses/people miss a few key elements on these questions, however they can only be addressed individually for each company. You’re happy to give a complimentary consultation to explore their project and help them get clear on their positioning for the copy.

Once they take you up on the free consultation offer, that phone conversation will be your opportunity to land the sale and take on the client. I’ve always used this consultative approach to landing clients and have succeeded 99% of the time across hundreds of clients.

As with most giveaway types, you want to tell your prospect what and why… then upsell them to working with you to handle the HOW.

“Ummm… that’s a heck of a lot to give away for free…”

Uh huh. That’s the point. The more you give away up front, the more confident your prospect is that you can deliver the goods when she actually pays you.

Now I know that freelancers are often wary of teaching prospects how to do what they do. The point is to deliver the service yourself, not teach them how to do it themselves. Right?

Not exactly. The fact is, when someone learns how much work it takes to do it themselves, learn everything and get it all to work, they get overwhelmed and realize it would be easier to just hire an expert to do it.

Plus in most cases you’re teaching them what to do and why it’s so important. They don’t know the HOW until they work with you.

Craft your giveaway right to upsell them into your services and you’ll get way more people banging down your door than you would have had you not educated them on what it takes to do what you do.

How The Upsell Works

Your giveaway won’t accomplish much for you unless you add a conclusion that ties what you just taught them into a persuasive offer to contact you for more information/a consultation/or to purchase services. This is the key piece to the whole process for how to get more clients.

How to upsell:

After you’ve delivered the meat of your giveaway content, explain a couple key mistakes they should look out for that are common for beginners (or that are common with clients who tried to do it themselves first). This helps your prospect understand how much work/stress could be in store for them by doing it themselves without an expert’s assistance WITHOUT outright deterring them from the option if that’s the way they want to go. You want to stay positive and express that you’re here to be of service, not to outright pitch them.

Next, explain that it often helps to talk it through with an expert and that you’re happy to provide a free consultation. You can be transparent and say that most people who call you decide to move forward with your services, but you’re not requiring them to. You’re happy to be of service.

Another offer could be a discount on your services or on a particular package of your services. Give them a coupon and tell them how to contact you to redeem it. Reiterate all the ways they’ll benefit by having you handle the work, tying back to mistakes and added costs they’ll avoid, how it affects their bottom line, etc. Be brief here, but be persuasive. Unlike the consultative approach above, this is an outright selling opportunity so don’t be afraid to demonstrate your value. You can put all of this in the giveaway itself (no more than two pages) or drive them at the end of the giveaway to a landing page that has your sales offer outlined in a video and/or written copy. Be sure in either case to have a BUY NOW button they can click to order right then and there (or to fill out a form to be contacted to finalize sale).

I’d love to hear any additional questions you have about creating giveaway content, so just post them below in the comments. Also be sure to share your experience with providing giveaways so others can learn and benefit from your story!